


The Tinkerer

by Mirabitur



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Alpha Bucky Barnes, Alpha Steve Rogers, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, M/M, Magical Realism, Magical Tony Stark, Mates, Multi, Shifter Bucky Barnes, Shifter Steve Rogers, Shifters, Were Bucky Barnes, Were-Creatures, Werewolf Mates, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-21
Updated: 2018-08-21
Packaged: 2019-06-30 10:38:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15750000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mirabitur/pseuds/Mirabitur
Summary: Tony Stark is just trying to mind his own business when two great brutes come into his shop and start harassing his apprentice.Steve and Bucky are just doing the best they can, trying to prevent their city from falling into the wrong hands.Other players in the background have less noble desires.





	The Tinkerer

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cygnus1123](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cygnus1123/gifts).



> I know, I am trash for starting another story.... I feel so bad, but these are the things I think of when I'm trying to go to sleep, and I've had insomnia since I was a little kid......

Tony wiped the ink and grease off of his hands with a rag as he strolled into the front room of his little business- his pride and joy, really, after cutting all ties with Howard. He had put Peter in charge of the front desk for the day, letting the teen get a little taste of customer service since he couldn’t help Tony with the more complicated projects in the back. Tony felt a little bad about excluding his apprentice from the wonderful bit of magic he was working on, but Peter wouldn’t be able to help, and might even cause problems in the long run.

It wouldn’t be on purpose- Peter always strived to be helpful, but the boy was too inexperienced and his magic was still maturing- having that kind of erratic magic in the works when creating something this complicated was a recipe for disaster, whether it outright blew up in their faces or had unexpected side effects down the line.

Peter was, as expected, standing behind the counter, but his face was pinched and his body language uncomfortable instead of his usual energetic demeanor. The two men on the other side were looming- as much as they could with three feet of marble counter between them- and Peter was leaning away and hunching his shoulders.

Tony felt his lips pinch into a slight frown at the sight. 

Peter hadn’t followed the typical path for an apprentice. Usually, young mages-to-be would attend workshops and meet-ups organized by the guilds to find potential masters, but such events required a fee to be paid, and Peter’s family had been too poor to afford it. While his peers had been studying with masters to guide their burgeoning magic, he had been relegated to the mundane schooling system. Not only did he have to deal with the maturation of his magic with only books to guide him, but his classmates had ridiculed him for, as they put it, not being powerful enough to attract a teacher.

Tony had worked hard to undo the damage to Peters self esteem, and to see these two brutes chipping away at the boys confidence lit a fire inside of him.

“Peter- why don’t you go take a look at the project in the back of the workshop- take some notes.” Peter knew full well that he wouldn’t be able to understand most of the project, but he took the escape all the same. Tony watched his charge leave and then turned to the two men, a polite smile pressing against his teeth.

“Hello, gentlemen, how can I help you?” He asked, taking in the two of them.

The one on the right was blond with light eyes, and to the left was a slightly shorter man with dark hair and, again, piercing light eyes. Shorter was relative, of course, they were both quite tall and built like brick shithouse.

“Oh, actually, we were just looking around.” Said the blond. Tony raised one eyebrow and glanced around. The front of his store was simple, you walked in the door and there was a counter. There were chairs for the rare instances that there was a line, and some pamphlets on display on the counter, but that was it.

“Did you have any questions? I noticed you were talking to my apprentice.” Tony asked. Yes, he  _ really _ wanted to know what it was they had been talking about that had made Peter so uncomfortable.

“Yeah, uh, nice kid. We were just chatting.” The man replied, clearly not wanting to talk to Tony.

“What were you talking about?” Tony asked, growing more direct as he grew more irate. If the man didn’t want to speak to him, that meant that he had come solely to talk to Peter.

“None of your business.” The other man broke in, a surly expression on his face. Tony raised one brow again. Who did this guy think he was?

“Actually, it is my business. This,” he waved his hand around, gesturing to the room. “This is my business, and that was my apprentice.” The blond raised an eyebrow of his own, skeptical.

“ _ Your _ business?” Wow, there was enough judgement in those two words to condemn someone to a life in prison.

The brunet snorted in derision, looking Tony up and down and finding him lacking. Tony bristled.

“Yes,  _ my _ business. What, you think I’m not big enough? You think I don’t have enough magic in my body?” Tony knew he was short. He also knew the stereotypes. 

It was a common misconception that shorter people had less talent in the magical arts than taller people, and statistics had supported that belief, showing a direct correlation. It was true that magic needed its space in the body, and there were ongoing studies regarding whether magic affected height or if it was the other way around. Would a person's inherent magic spur their growth? Or did their stature hinder their potential?

What people didn’t know was that there were exceptions. Like Tony, for instance. Tony was just amazing like that.

“You said it, not us.” The brunet said, mouth curling with a hint of cruelty. “Though you are a little shrimp of a thing, aren’t you.” The blond gave him a quelling look but didn’t make any move to retract the statement. 

Tony knew if he let this continue, he would do something that he would at some point regret. Eventually. Probably.

“I think it’s time that you leave.” He said lowly. With Peter gone, the two men had no reason to stay, so they easily turned and left, sour expressions on their faces.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to leave any suggestions/comments/concerns!


End file.
